Ideas change everything

Can a new brain-circuit model change our thinking about neurodegenerative disease?

James Kozloski |

TED@IBM

• November 2016

If you're diagnosed with Huntington's disease, your treatment would be no more effective today than on the day of its discovery ... in 1872. Why has progress treating brain diseases been so slow? After 20 years of research, neuroscientist James Kozloski has come to a startling conclusion: Scientists are thinking too small. He looks past the usual genes that cause the diseases with a new brain model that maps the brain's core components and connects them into a single circuit. The implications of his research carry weight for Huntington's, and far beyond.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

If you're diagnosed with Huntington's disease, your treatment would be no more effective today than on the day of its discovery ... in 1872. Why has progress treating brain diseases been so slow? After 20 years of research, neuroscientist James Kozloski has come to a startling conclusion: Scientists are thinking too small. He looks past the usual genes that cause the diseases with a new brain model that maps the brain's core components and connects them into a single circuit. The implications of his research carry weight for Huntington's, and far beyond.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

About the speaker

James Kozloski

Brain explorer

Dr. James Kozloski manages IBM’s Computational Neuroscience & Multiscale Brain Modeling department. His research reframes the brain as a single circuit, potentially reshaping how we find and treat brain diseases. But the possible impact of Kozloski’s work stretches far beyond healthcare: further demystification of the brain will inform the future of computing through the brain-inspired software that electronics are increasingly built upon.

About TED Institute

Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas. The culmination is an event produced, recorded, and hosted by TED, generating a growing library of valuable TED Talks that can spur innovation and transform organizations.

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